Mickey's Ultimate Challenge

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Box Art for Mickey's Ultimate Challenge

Mickey's Ultimate Challenge is a video game starring Mickey Mouse for the Super NES, Game Boy, Sega Mega Drive/Sega Genesis, Sega Master System, and Game Gear. It also features Minnie Mouse, Goofy, and Donald Duck. It was released on June 7, 1994. Overall, it is a puzzle game. It is rated for all ages, aimed toward younger children, and it is designed for only one player. The design is simplistic as Mickey can only perform three things: walking, jumping, and going through doors. There are five major challenges, a segue, and a final challenge.

[edit] Gameplay

First, you choose whether to play as Mickey or Minnie, and then you choose from three difficulty levels. The player then learns of trouble in Beanswick. There is a strange rumbling over the castle and no one can explain it. Mickey (or Minnie) volunteers to investigate. He must go through a series of challenges in various rooms of the castle in order to collect magic beans and items. These tasks can be completed in any order, but all must be finished in order to beat the game.

Sorting Books

Books are floating up and down in the library of the Beanswick castle and Mickey must sort them in alphabetical order by jumping on them. Depending on difficulty, there are various numbers of books to be sorted and different patterns for the books to float in. Only a portion of the alphabet must be sorted. Once the books have been sorted, you receive a magic bean and an item.

Moving Potions

Mickey is transformed into a tiny size and placed on a chess-like game board. Potion bottles are on this board, as well as block obstacles that must be maneuvered around. The potion bottles are to be pushed into a magic mirror on the board. In harder difficluty games, there are more boards to play in increasing difficulty. Once all potions have been collected, you return to normal size and receive your magic bean and your item.

Picture Matching

This is a timed, memory challenge. Mickey must dust off portraits hanging on the castle walls in matching pairs. Basically, it's the matching card game. He must complete this task before the lights in the castle dim to darkness. Depending on difficulty, there are more or less pictures. For challenges with more pictures, more time is given. He is armed with a feather duster and sliding ladder. Match up all the pictures before time and light run out in order to receive your bean and item.

Playing the Pipes

This is a memory game. Several pipes light up and make different noises in a pattern that builds every turn. Mickey must listen, remember, and repeat what he heard. He can do this by jumping on the top of the pipes and playing the notes back in the proper order. The pipes only play one melody, adding one note after every time Mickey successfully completes the previous one. Difficulty of gameplay determines the length of the melody. Play all the right pipes to receive the bean and item.

Guess the Tools

Goofy wants Mickey to guess what tools are in his toolbox. Mickey has seven attempts to successfully guess the tools and their order inside Goofy's toolbox. After each guess, a clue appears telling you how many and which tools you guessed in the correct order. In easier games, the tools turn red or green to denote correctness. In more difficult games, a small quartered square of red and green pieces tells Mickey which ones are right. Correctly guess what is in Goofy's toolbox to earn your bean and item.

Exchanging Items

This is the segue of the game. The items Mickey collected were of no importance to their previous owners, but would serve useful to others in Beanswick. Mickey must go back to all of the others in each challenge and give them the item that suits them. Only after this is accomplished can Mickey use his magic beans.

Using the Magic beans

After returning the items to their respective owners, Mickey visits the well. The annoying rumbling occurs again and Mickey throws his beans near the well. Suddenly, a giant beanstalk grows straight up into the clouds. A curious Mickey climbs the beanstalk into the clouds and encounters a giant. The giant is sound asleep and snoring. This massive snoring is the cause of all the trouble for Beanswick. There is a scrambled picture of an alarm clock floating next to the giant. Mickey must unscramble the picture by sliding the pieces and wake up the giant. After Mickey wakes up and talks to the giant, the troubles in Beanswick are solved.

[edit] Trivia

Mickey's Ultimate Challenge's plot resembles bits of several fairytales, such as Cinderella and Jack and the Beanstalk.
Because of its simplistic gameplay, graphics, and lack of depth, this has been noted as one of the worst games made for Super NES.
Horace Horsecollar in the game is dressed as he was in The Prince and the Pauper